Surrounded: Stories from NH's Islands

Credit Sara Plourde / NHPR

“Surrounded: Stories from New Hampshire’s Islands” explores the history, culture and landscapes of the Granite State’s islands and the people who live or visit there, from the Seacoast to the Connecticut River, the North Country to the Lakes Region.

Every Sunday morning throughout the summer, a bell rings out three times from an island in the middle of Squam Lake.

It's a signal that boaters, kayakers, and even swimmers, should begin to make their way to the island - because church is about to start.

With a granite boulder serving as an altar and music from a hand cranked organ, Chocurua Island has hosted religious services of all kinds for more than a hundred years. In this final installment of our summer series Surrounded, Sean Hurley visits the island, with one of its most devoted caretakers.

Islands can be calm, quiet, isolated places where you can remove yourself from the stress of mainland life. Or, they can serve a more transactional purpose: a place to put people you don’t want to have around. Think Alcatraz, or Elba, where Napoleon was exiled.

Well, off the coast of Portsmouth, there are islands that were also used to remove and isolate certain individuals. Individuals who sometimes figured out novel ways to entertain themselves.

If you find yourself in downtown Berlin, New Hampshire, take a glance at the Androscoggin River. There, in the middle of the water, you’ll notice a long, straight line of small rocky islands poking through the surface.

Time moves differently—and is counted differently—on Three Mile Island.

The summer camp on Lake Winnipesaukee, which is owned and operated by the Appalachian Mountain Club, hasn’t changed much since its opening in 1900. And many of the campers, some of whom have been returning annually for more than half-a-century, are more likely to tell you when they first started coming to Three Mile, rather than admit their age.

The Vilas Bridge spans the Connecticut River with two delicate arches, but it’s seen nearly a century of wear. In some spots, where the concrete has cracked and fallen away, you can see the structure’s metal skeleton, rusting in plain air.

For more than a century, the U.S. Postal Service has delivered mail to the islands of Lake Winnipesaukee. For the past 50 years, that job has fallen to the Sophie C., a 74-foot motor boat, docked off Weir’s Beach.